57 thoughts on “Trashing Patriots”

Trump and his allies attack Purple Heart recipient to defend against impeachment

[…]

But for many Republican lawmakers, the moves to discredit Vindman’s character were a bridge too far — suggesting that the escalating attacks on the witnesses testifying about Trump’s alleged misconduct may have a limit.
“We’re talking about decorated veterans who have served this nation, who have put their lives on the line,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). “It’s shameful to question their patriotism, their love of this nation, and we should not be involved in that process.”
[…]
On Tuesday, Trump’s campaign to brand his opponents as part of a “Deep State” cabal of government officials working against him ran headlong into the biography of Vindman, who fled the Soviet Union with his family as a child and who received a Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, found himself in the president’s crosshairs as he prepared to tell Congress that he was concerned that Trump had sought to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Democrats. While his testimony was the latest in a string of damaging revelations by Trump administration officials, the effort by some Republicans to discredit him based on his birthplace created another fault line in the GOP’s impeachment response.
[…]
By Tuesday, Yoo was walking back his comment after several elected Republicans said attacking Vindman’s loyalty to the United States was inappropriate. Yoo told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that he was accusing the Ukrainian government of potential espionage, not Vindman.
Duffy, who said on CNN that he did not know if Vindman was putting American interests above Ukrainian interests, also backtracked later Tuesday.
“Lt. Col. Vindman is an American war hero,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that he was only trying to highlight that Vindman was “an unelected advisor.”
Those retreats came after several elected Republicans admonished some Trump defenders for their willingness to denigrate a veteran.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said it was a “mistake” to question Vindman’s patriotism.
[…]
Leon Panetta, who served as a defense secretary and CIA director in past Democratic administrations, said the campaign against Vindman amounts to “an attack on what America is all about as a nation of immigrants.”
“This combination of a commander in chief who demeans people who served this country, combined with other leaders criticizing those who served the country, are just contributing to an American decline,” he said.

WASHINGTON — Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that the White House transcript of a July call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president omitted crucial words and phrases, and that his attempts to include them failed, according to three people familiar with the testimony.
The omissions, Colonel Vindman said, included Mr. Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. discussing Ukraine corruption, and an explicit mention by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of Burisma Holdings, the energy company whose board employed Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.
Colonel Vindman, who appeared on Capitol Hill wearing his dark blue Army dress uniform and military medals, told House impeachment investigators that he tried to change the reconstructed transcript made by the White House staff to reflect the omissions. But while some of his edits appeared to have been successful, he said, those two corrections were not made.

so is GOPer Rep McCarthy saying the good soldier lied under oath? if so, will the House Minority Leader take official steps to accuse him of perjury, Lt Col. Vindman willfully having lied to congress in his testimony before the intelligence committee?

McCarthy:
“I thank him for his service. I thank him for his commitment to this country, but he is wrong.”

Late Night Pokes Holes in Fox News’ Attempts to Discredit Decorated Soldier
[…]
[Imitating Trump] What do you mean, he’s an immigrant? I didn’t know those came in white. You know what? He must be — it must be some sort of Man-lania.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“He says he reported it out of a ‘sense of duty’ to the country. To which Trump said, ‘a sense of what to the who?’” — JAMES CORDEN
“He has a Purple Heart and he has a Harvard degree — or as Trump put it, ‘Psh, who are you going to believe: him or me?’” — JIMMY FALLON
“But what does he know? He’s just a decorated war veteran. He’s never even bankrupted a casino.” — JAMES CORDEN
“So of course the first question for these Republicans is ‘How do we destroy this man?’ The patriots over at Fox News found it very suspicious that our top Ukraine expert is from Ukraine. And it is suspicious when you learn someone in the Trump administration has actual expertise in his field.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
“Now, mind you, uh, he was 3 years old when he came to the U.S., so he didn’t move here — he was moved here by his parents. Right? Because now they’re making it seem like he was like a double agent for Ukraine. Like, what kind of baby spy thriller were you watching?” — TREVOR NOAH
“Hey, Laura Ingraham, you’re attacking a decorated veteran to protect Donald Trump. Who do you think you are, Donald Trump? And by the way, yes, Colonel Vindman emigrated from Ukraine when he was 3. Nobody even remembers where they were when they were 3, with the possible exception of you. I’m sure when you were 3 you were already at Saks Fifth Avenue making a salesperson cry.” — SETH MEYERS
“And hey, do you really think it’s smart to attack veterans on Fox News? Veterans make up a pretty good chunk of your audience. I think it goes veterans, people visiting their elderly relatives, and rage-aholic golfers age 73 and up.” — SETH MEYERS
“Somehow the Ukrainians managed to indoctrinate a toddler to use our potties and do their bidding to one day bring down the president of the United States.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

anyone think it odd that john yoo (a so Korean-American born 52 years ago in seoul so korea) questioned the patriotism of lt col vindman (ukranian-american born 44 years ago in kiev Ukraine ssr) solely based on his ethnicity or country of birth or that he speaks the language of that country?

another day, another poll to argue over. reason‘s take on the latest in NH:

Maybe the Russians have infiltrated New Hampshire.

A new CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire and released this week shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii) with 5 percent support from likely voters in the state, which is scheduled to hold the nation’s first Democratic primary on February 11. That level of support is good enough to put Gabbard in fifth place, trailing only Sen. Bernie Sanders (21 percent) of Vermont, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (18 percent) of Massachusetts, former vice president Joe Biden (15 percent) and Pete Buttigieg (10 percent), the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Tied with Gabbard at 5 percent are Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

The CNN poll is perhaps the best signal yet that Gabbard—whom Hillary Clinton nonsensically smeared as a “Russian asset” two weeks ago—is experiencing a bit of a polling bounce, especially in New Hampshire. She’s risen by 4 percentage points since the same pollsters’ July survey while Biden has fallen by 6 points and Sen. Kamala Harris of California has fallen by 9 points. Nationally, Gabbard has experienced a small but noticeable bump in her poll numbers in recent weeks too, though she continues to sit in the third tier of Democratic hopefuls.

But the most interesting thing about the new CNN poll in New Hampshire is not so much the level of Gabbard’s support, but rather who is supporting her.

No, it’s not the Russians—it’s actually mostly Republicans.

When you dig into the crosstabs of the poll, it shows that 59 percent of New Hampshire Republicans have a favorable view of Gabbard, while only 23 percent of the state’s Democrats do. The Hawaiian congresswoman is far more likely to attract support from someone who voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 (55 percent of whom view her favorably) than from someone who backed Clinton (20 percent).

Gabbard’s unorthodox constituency is a significant impediment to her campaign gaining traction in the Democratic field. It’s difficult to become your party’s pick when the other party’s voters like you more.

But in New Hampshire, Gabbard’s crossover appeal could be a boon. The state has open primaries that allow all voters to participate in either the Republican event or the Democratic one (and the GOP primary is probably not going to be very interesting).

Unlike some other states, New Hampshire has not canceled its Republican primary to protect Trump from potential embarrassment, but there is little doubt he will win the contest easily. In the new poll, Trump’s three primary opponents—former Reps. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Joe Walsh of Illinois, along with former governor Bill Weld—get a mere 7 percent of the vote, combined.

That means plenty of New Hampshire Republicans could see their own contest as a waste of time and decide to vote in the Democratic primary instead. Gabbard is a likely beneficiary if that happens.

Reason has a major error in the report that makes everything else suspect. Hillary didn’t not name Tulsi as a Russian asset. It is interesting that all the Russian bots immediately flooded Twitter supporting Tulsi against the insult that wasn’t there.

trump has nominated sorcerer george mentz to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. I guess he can not only shoot people on 5th Avenue, he can also promote promoters of magic and get away with it.

Pat, I’m not surprised by the scenario posed in your 1104. It’s based on the group experiences within Mr Yoo’s cohort where individuals might be third generation Americans but are still questioned as to their presence in America.

Jamie. they weren’t the only ones who made that major error. I heard many a talking head say the same thing. many of whom also kept repeating that mueller found no evidence of collusion/criminal conspiracy when the report clearly said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to make a criminal case. “sufficient” is not “no”

AP: The Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark interest rate for the third time this year to try to sustain the U.S. economic expansion in the face of global threats. But it hinted that it won’t cut again at its next meeting.

Former rep turned lobbyist (for whom ???) bob livingston pressed hard for the firing of Ambassador Yovanovich. livingston, was once picked to succeed nude gingrich as Speaker of the House. gingrich had resign to avoid a sex scandal. Immediately, livingston had to give up his hope of becoming the Speaker, as pornographer larry flynt came up with evidence that as a congressman bob had had at least FOUR extramarital affairs. At that time House repubs were preparing to impeach bill clinton. bob livingston had been pressing as hard as he could to get clinton impeached.

With pervs gingrich and livingston suddenly out of the way, squeaky-clean boy scout dennis hastert was able to slither his way into the Speakers chair. We all know how that turned out.

Anywho, now bob livingston is back making life miserable for an entirely new generation of women.

The white folk gently say someone is “from off”.
My sweet gullah is rapidly fading….makes me happy somebody like Pat Conroy was around to record some of it, because soon, it will all be gone with the wind.
As far as progress is concerned, that’s a damned good thing, but still the memory lingers.

I’ve always had such respect for the Gullah culture. Unfortunate that it is fading. Streisand is wonderful, but my favorite version of this lovely Scottish folk song is James Taylor. Speaking of history, a song has to be pretty good to last more than 400 years.

I was touring around the south one time with Cornelius Bros and Sister Rose. It was actually just one Cornelius, Eddie Cornelius, who’d gotten in a fight with his brother and sister who packed off to Atlanta and hired a new Eddie Cornelius, while Eddie Cornelius hired a new Brother and Sister Rose and kept on truckin’. I must add that our Eddie had written all their hits and sung lead so he was holding the best hand. So, anyway, Eddie somehow runs into this dead-ender redneck and hires him as Roadie and Equiptment Manager. Nice enough guy, not a lot on the “bright” side if things, but what the hell, he’s eager, and muling equiptment; not making up the set list.
And so it goes, we’re hitting big rooms around the south, and Roadie and Eddie decide to let Roadie’s brother come on board to help out. He agrees to work for food. Roadie’s brother is a different kettle of fish. He shows up, he’s got 13 blue-ink tattooed on his forehead and a bunch of other weird ink spread about his body. Long story short, we’re back in Myrtle Beach between runs at a motel when at 3 am the fight breaks out between Roadie and 13, as we called him. It was a killer fight…..epic…..13 in the end reached into the van, pulled out a ball peen hammer and delivered a few blows to Roadie’s cranium. The whole band’s out running around with them in the parking lot trying to keep them separated to no avail. The ambulance came for Roadie and 13 hitch-hiked on down the highway. The band decided that whiskey was in order; except for Craig, there masquerading as a journalist from Rolling Stone, purportedly doing a story on “Southern Roots Rock” who took a cab to the hospital to check on Roadie. Roadie was going to be laid up a bit, so Craig came back and had some dawn whiskey.

I have to admit I had doubts that the Nats could overcome the choke and win two straight games. They won the World Series. Congratulations to them, they did something important for the most important city in the world.

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